Hellboy is a 2019 Reboot of Mike Mignola's Hellboy Comic Books. Starring David Harbour, Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich, Daniel Dae Kim, and Sasha Lane. The screenplay is credited to Andrew Cosby, while the Directing Credit is given to Horror Veteran Neil Marshall. The story centers around the resuscitation of Dark Sorceress Nimue (Jovovich) from a vengeful pig-fairy Gruagach seeking a means to gain revenge on Hellboy (Harbour) for Banishing him to a weakened form, all the while Hellboy is having a crisis of conscience and a family dispute with his dad, Trevor Bruttenholm (McShane) over the nature of their work.
While the story does rip quite a bit of the story, characters, and elements out of the comic, it also focuses a heavy amount of the story around the later end of the Hellboy series, before the 'Hellboy In Hell' stories. The Movie focuses on elements of Gore and Action and acts as if the scenes of Gore, whether silhouetted with a cartoonish effect, or Hammerhead demons rising and cutting people in half, are horror. It carries some action, but only 3 Notable action scenes: A Mexican Wrestling Match, A Battle with Giants, and a final battle against Nimue. It carries a notable scene featuring Hellboy's arch enemy The Baba Yaga, that quickly plays off gross for horror and doesn't feature any notable action. The film also features a cameo from Rasputin that amounts to nothing but half hearted establishment of an origin story that has been pretty well explored and in much better fashion in previous films.
The biggest issue the film's story holds is the placement. Anyone who's read a good amount of the comics would figure that doing the story of Nimue would have fit for a better final film over a fresh start. The best way I've come to describe the plot and placement of the story would be to Reboot Harry Potter, starting with the story present in Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hollows and rewrite the Main Character to be severely infantile. Covering the origin again to re-establish where this Hellboy came from is fine, even better that it's not the focus of the movie but adding it past the 20 minute mark just felt like a time filler that wasn't needed nor warranted since the film was already comfortable starting without it.
The movie takes a lot of time to establish a new, yet one off villain, new side-characters who's performed well but aren't really holding any actual presence in the film. Daniel Dae Kim is a lot of fun as Ben Daimio, but has nothing to do and barely contributes to the final fight. Sasha Lane's Alice Monaghan only serves the purpose of letting Hellboy talk to Ghost, something he's done in the comics without aid, and to transition the Scene from an open field to a more accessible Building. Both new characters are introduced relatively close together giving no time to really explore either characters and only giving bare explanations for why they're even around.
Gruagach is the most prominent and active character, essentially getting the plot started by looking for Nimue, and hunting the pieces of her that's been scattered away. Hellboy doesn't even become aware of this major threat until about halfway through the film. Once he's discovered the issue it's pretty much too late as Gruagach gathered the last piece and she is on the hunt for her Blood. Once she sees Hellboy she becomes enamored with him. Essentially falling in love with him at first sight.
She alters her plan to include turning Hellboy into her lover, with no explanation given leaving the audience to assume it's Hellboy's Beast of the Apocalypse destiny she somehow learns, having been an isolated head in a box for centuries. She becomes a moron as a villain due to her desire to sleep with Hellboy, wanting him to become her King, instead of using his seemingly unlimited power to just murder him. It's just a lot of lazy storytelling that feels like at least another hour of the film has been removed from the film explaining and delving deeper into the choices anyone makes in the film.
It's easy to say if you put the story under a microscope, it doesn't hold up well and is severely overstuffed, treating audiences as if the mystery of who Hellboy is must be answered and over explained instead of just letting the audience see who he is. While I won't fault the film for acknowledging his Arthurian Heritage, I will knock it for the fact that this could have been better saved for a film with less baggage. The story has enough that it isn't dealing with to actually add in the King Arthur lineage. The Film wants to gloss over Hellboy's crisis of conscience. This crisis having began by having him upset over killing his friend, who was turned into a vampire and lead to him arguing with his Father why he wasn't murdered as a baby and whether or not Nimue is really evil. This all culminates to Hellboy having a tantrum that a teenager would have and makes Hellboy seem really unlikable and frankly unintelligent. After the tantrum the story just drops Hellboy's Crisis as he runs into The Baba Yaga. This leads to a deal that has the Baba Yaga telling Hellboy where to find Nimue for Not the Final Confrontation to expound his heritage.
It's a lot to deal with, a lot that just doesn't get addressed, and a lot that just frankly happens to fill time. It doesn't do anything new or interesting with the Supernatural elements nor does it really show any style to the directing. Neil Marshall is given the credit but I can't imagine he was even on set for the shots they did use. No style or even real direction was applied to what is seen in the film. The cast does it's best to put themselves into the characters to a commendable degree but without knowing where the tone is supposed to go the performances fall flat at making me care.
The big thing I did want to discuss in this review is whether Harbour played Hellboy or someone who just looks like Hellboy. Harbour had said in numerous interviews that the characterization he drew on was evoking a teenager, and to his credit he does just that. Trouble is, Hellboy isn't a teenager. He hasn't acted like a Teenager. Hellboy grew into a gruff blue-collar individual that really just enjoyed hanging out with friends and helping people. Hellboy, as best as I could put it, is John McClane with Red Skin, Horns, and a Big fucking hand. Hellboy isn't and has never been a whining teenager. It's a shame because Harbour is spot on casting for a rebooted Hellboy. Hell if had just played Hopper from Stranger Things, he'd have been closer to an interesting and reasonable portrayal of Hellboy than the material or he, had decided for. Harbour is a great actor and is great in the movie, but he's just not playing Hellboy, not the one from the comics.
Ian McShane is great and maybe having the most fun with the film. Trouble behind his involvement is the character he plays just doesn't fit the film. As mention Daniel Dae Kim and Sasha Lane are serviceable, you won't be hearing their voices reading the comics any time soon. Jovovich was fun in the little time she has as Nimue but the alterations to the opening (the original version is generously added onto the Blu-Ray Extras) and the overall tone make her out to be something than Jovovich is clearly playing and it only gets more outlandish once she meets Hellboy.
The creature effects for the most part are good. Gruagach is a stand out, but Hellboy is rough. Looking at the make-up I wasn't a fan from the beginning. They paid for David Harbour and they decided to hide him. Harbour has a face that, if red, would have worked naturally well for the character. Things get worse when the muscle suit is shown. One scene in particular shows Hellboy in the full form of Anung Un Rama riding a dragon and the Muscle suit is very obvious. Really the only time the make-up and the suit look decent was the opening in Mexico. Outside of that the stone hand makes his left arm look like a baby's arm to a degree that openly distracts me from the movie, even worse when Hellboy wears his coat; and his body gains mass that just doesn't look fitting inside this supposed realistic depiction.
What certainly makes me thing that Neil Marshall was very quickly escorted from the set was the film's overreliance on CGI. Shots of a face transforming into a bat, Daimio's transformations and ghost effects look terrible and could have been done without CG. Marshall has gone on record as being a fan of practical effects and I would like to think he fought tooth and nail against the uses of it as much as he could.
The score, done by IT's Benjamin Wallfisch is completely forgettable. There's no ever present tone, theme, or melody that sticks with anything that happens on screen. The film at too many times relies on a uninspired Heavy Metal Beat, a popular 80's Rock Song, or a generic feeling action movie score.
All compiled together the film fails to capture the horror elements of Hellboy. It dishes out lazy action, a simplistic story that refuses to delve into what makes Hellboy the world's greatest paranormal detective. It's a bargain bin pickup at best. Repeat viewings make it slightly better but don't elevate it enough to be tolerable. Maybe a few beers in and the movie might find an audience. Outside of boring exposition, lazy action, and half hearted attempts at horror, I'd say this movie's biggest crime is conning me into buying it with the beautiful Mike Mignola Steelbook case. Steelbook cases are often pretty good, or even creative, but Hellboy pulled a cheap trick with original and gorgeous Mignola art that just makes me wish it belonged to a movie that was half as beautiful and inspired as it's own Blu-Ray cover.
Gun to my head I'd rate Hellboy, at best, a 4/10. Some humerous bits and decent performances just don't help a very muddled and uninspired take on a character I've loved since 2004. After an 11 year absence from the Big Screen I'd have much rather had Hellboy end with the Golden Army than reboot into this cluttered mess. Maybe another reboot will come along and right the wrongs. Maybe a T.V. Adaptation will take the comic and adapt it properly and add in the missing pieces that made Hellboy Special. But it does restore my faith in society just a little bit that this film won't be getting a sequel. I have no faith in anyone behind the Camera to take the pieces evident here and deliver a sequel that makes up for what this film lacks.
I don't blame Neil Marshall, it seems he was given a shit hand and wasn't given room to breathe or express anything he wanted. I don't Blame Andrew Cosby for writing it, this film went through numerous drafts and he wasn't the sole writer on all of them, the remaining gunk was just credited to him. I won't even blame the producers. I'll just say all parties tried to make a good film and no one knew the film they were making. Cosby didn't know it was a horror movie, Marshall didn't know it was a cash grab, and the producer's didn't know it was supposed to be a movie.
It's a lot to deal with, a lot that just doesn't get addressed, and a lot that just frankly happens to fill time. It doesn't do anything new or interesting with the Supernatural elements nor does it really show any style to the directing. Neil Marshall is given the credit but I can't imagine he was even on set for the shots they did use. No style or even real direction was applied to what is seen in the film. The cast does it's best to put themselves into the characters to a commendable degree but without knowing where the tone is supposed to go the performances fall flat at making me care.
The big thing I did want to discuss in this review is whether Harbour played Hellboy or someone who just looks like Hellboy. Harbour had said in numerous interviews that the characterization he drew on was evoking a teenager, and to his credit he does just that. Trouble is, Hellboy isn't a teenager. He hasn't acted like a Teenager. Hellboy grew into a gruff blue-collar individual that really just enjoyed hanging out with friends and helping people. Hellboy, as best as I could put it, is John McClane with Red Skin, Horns, and a Big fucking hand. Hellboy isn't and has never been a whining teenager. It's a shame because Harbour is spot on casting for a rebooted Hellboy. Hell if had just played Hopper from Stranger Things, he'd have been closer to an interesting and reasonable portrayal of Hellboy than the material or he, had decided for. Harbour is a great actor and is great in the movie, but he's just not playing Hellboy, not the one from the comics.
Ian McShane is great and maybe having the most fun with the film. Trouble behind his involvement is the character he plays just doesn't fit the film. As mention Daniel Dae Kim and Sasha Lane are serviceable, you won't be hearing their voices reading the comics any time soon. Jovovich was fun in the little time she has as Nimue but the alterations to the opening (the original version is generously added onto the Blu-Ray Extras) and the overall tone make her out to be something than Jovovich is clearly playing and it only gets more outlandish once she meets Hellboy.
The creature effects for the most part are good. Gruagach is a stand out, but Hellboy is rough. Looking at the make-up I wasn't a fan from the beginning. They paid for David Harbour and they decided to hide him. Harbour has a face that, if red, would have worked naturally well for the character. Things get worse when the muscle suit is shown. One scene in particular shows Hellboy in the full form of Anung Un Rama riding a dragon and the Muscle suit is very obvious. Really the only time the make-up and the suit look decent was the opening in Mexico. Outside of that the stone hand makes his left arm look like a baby's arm to a degree that openly distracts me from the movie, even worse when Hellboy wears his coat; and his body gains mass that just doesn't look fitting inside this supposed realistic depiction.
What certainly makes me thing that Neil Marshall was very quickly escorted from the set was the film's overreliance on CGI. Shots of a face transforming into a bat, Daimio's transformations and ghost effects look terrible and could have been done without CG. Marshall has gone on record as being a fan of practical effects and I would like to think he fought tooth and nail against the uses of it as much as he could.
The score, done by IT's Benjamin Wallfisch is completely forgettable. There's no ever present tone, theme, or melody that sticks with anything that happens on screen. The film at too many times relies on a uninspired Heavy Metal Beat, a popular 80's Rock Song, or a generic feeling action movie score.
All compiled together the film fails to capture the horror elements of Hellboy. It dishes out lazy action, a simplistic story that refuses to delve into what makes Hellboy the world's greatest paranormal detective. It's a bargain bin pickup at best. Repeat viewings make it slightly better but don't elevate it enough to be tolerable. Maybe a few beers in and the movie might find an audience. Outside of boring exposition, lazy action, and half hearted attempts at horror, I'd say this movie's biggest crime is conning me into buying it with the beautiful Mike Mignola Steelbook case. Steelbook cases are often pretty good, or even creative, but Hellboy pulled a cheap trick with original and gorgeous Mignola art that just makes me wish it belonged to a movie that was half as beautiful and inspired as it's own Blu-Ray cover.
Gun to my head I'd rate Hellboy, at best, a 4/10. Some humerous bits and decent performances just don't help a very muddled and uninspired take on a character I've loved since 2004. After an 11 year absence from the Big Screen I'd have much rather had Hellboy end with the Golden Army than reboot into this cluttered mess. Maybe another reboot will come along and right the wrongs. Maybe a T.V. Adaptation will take the comic and adapt it properly and add in the missing pieces that made Hellboy Special. But it does restore my faith in society just a little bit that this film won't be getting a sequel. I have no faith in anyone behind the Camera to take the pieces evident here and deliver a sequel that makes up for what this film lacks.
I don't blame Neil Marshall, it seems he was given a shit hand and wasn't given room to breathe or express anything he wanted. I don't Blame Andrew Cosby for writing it, this film went through numerous drafts and he wasn't the sole writer on all of them, the remaining gunk was just credited to him. I won't even blame the producers. I'll just say all parties tried to make a good film and no one knew the film they were making. Cosby didn't know it was a horror movie, Marshall didn't know it was a cash grab, and the producer's didn't know it was supposed to be a movie.
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